1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a slot machine that is protected so as to prevent any improper use by the players of the machine.
It applies to slot machines having both a token cash device (conventionally referred to as a token comparator) and an electronic cash device for payment by means of a smart card, or to slot machines having only an electronic cash device.
2. Background of the Invention
A slot machine equipped with a smart card reader accepts both play with a smart card and play with a token, without distinguishing between these two types of play. This is because, in order to issue a credit from a smart card to a slot machine, the smart card reader faithfully recreates the electronic signals produced by a token when it is inserted in the slot machine. In the same way, in order to credit a smart card from a slot machine, the smart card reader recreates the electronic signals of a token when it is paid by the slot machine.
There are a number of problems to be addressed when a smart card is improperly used for payment or credit during the play of a slot machine. One problem to be resolved consists in preventing stakes presented by a smart card from falsifying the counter of the receipts bank of the slot machine.
A second problem to be addressed consists in preventing a player who is playing with tokens on a machine with a mixed cash device (which accepts both tokens and smart cards) from recovering winnings obtained, or the credit available to him in electronic form, on his smart card.
A third problem to be resolved consists in preventing a player playing with a card on a machine with an electronic cash device from transferring the credit on his card to the slot machine, inserting a new card in the slot machine reader, and requesting the transfer of credit to this new card.
A fourth problem to be addressed consists in preventing a player playing with a card on a machine with an electronic cash device from being able to transfer the credit on his card to the slot machine and recover the winnings in the form of tokens.